


you are coming down with something (you cannot be contained by mortal confines)

by ikuzonos



Category: Dangan Ronpa, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing
Genre: Gen, NDRV3 Spoilers, Pre-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-22
Updated: 2017-04-22
Packaged: 2018-10-22 11:47:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,806
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10696377
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ikuzonos/pseuds/ikuzonos
Summary: ...all Kaito Momota can see is stars.[Major Endgame NDRV3 Spoilers.]





	you are coming down with something (you cannot be contained by mortal confines)

**Author's Note:**

> aka welcome to the longest fic title i've ever had

Wind blows through the window of the train, tussling his hair. His head feels heavy and cloudy, kind of like a magician’s hat - stuffed with things that shouldn’t be there. His stomach churns, but that might just be the train car swinging precariously along the tracks.

Autumn is approaching at an alarming rate, and Kaito Momota has never felt less interested in his life before. 

It’s early evening now, and Kaito feels the setting sun hit his neck. He shuts his eyes for a moment, thinking of the leftover onigiri in the fridge. He fumbles in his pocket for his headphones, untangles them, and then plugs them into his phone. Russian rock music soothes his raging headache as the train travels down the line.

His stop is deserted, which isn’t any surprise. There’s some yellow tape around the ticket office, and he’s heard whispers from passing construction workers that they plan on tearing the place down. Kaito’s just about the only one who uses the stop anymore.

The lonely, ivy wrapped apartment - he hesitates to call it home - looks golden in the sunlight, and he wishes that the bricks weren’t such an ugly colour. Kaito climbs the stairs like normal, ignoring any neighbours he passes on the thin flights, until he gets to the floor he lives on. Even while working two jobs, he can hardly afford rent. And on top of that, there’s food and other necessities to buy. He sighs, pushing open the door, and leaning against the frame.

The rent will probably be late this month. Again. Kaito’s surprised that he hasn’t been kicked out of the place yet.

He places his bag on the counter. He's taking steps in the hallway to go to his bedroom when the couch creaks, when he hears the couch creak.

“Niisan?”

Kaito turns around to see his little sister peering over the back of the couch, looking up at him with sad eyes. He forces a smile, “Hey. How are you doing?”

She props herself up on one elbow, “Niisan, will you watch  _ Dangan Ronpa _ with me? Please?”

Kaito scratches his head, “I’d love to, but I’m working the night shift, so I need some sleep, but-”

Her face falls, “O-Okay… I thought I’d ask anyways.”

Kaito blinks, “What about that friend of yours? The exchange student at your school?”

“She went back to Hawaii,” she mumbles, “It’s just been me, all alone.”

Kaito sighs, walks over, and sits next to her on the couch, “Okay. But just one episode. Otherwise I’ll be too tired to work tonight.”

She nods gleefully, “Of course! Thank you so much, niisan!” She grabs the remote and clicks on the television. Kaito leans back on the sofa, as the iconic music begins to play. He might not care very much about the show, but he loves his sister more than anything in the world, and so he learns through her.

The expression on her face as she meets the cast for the new season, the sixteen teenagers who have the lifespans of drone ants, is overflowing with joy. He allows himself a tiny smile of his own, for her sake.

“Hey,” he says about halfway through the episode, “that green haired kid,” he fumbles for the name, “Amami?”

She nods, “What about him?”

“How many seasons has he been on now?”

She counts silently on her fingers, then says, “This will be his seventh season. Nobody’s ever sacrificed themselves than he has.”

Kaito runs a hand through his hair, “I wonder why he keeps doing it.”

She shrugs, “Maybe he needs the money.”

That’s a motive that Kaito can relate to. He sneaks a glance at his little sister, who’s too busy being enthralled with the Super High-School Level Ultimate Frisbee Player’s introduction to notice him. She’s fifteen going on sixteen come December, but she still seems like the tiny ten year old that he found fast asleep behind a garbage can in the back of an alley.

Three years ago, he dropped out of school so that he could work more hours, and keep them both in the apartment. Despite the the death of their foster parents, they were both more attached to the place than they would like to admit. It was most of Kaito’s childhood, and the only home his sister ever had.

After the episode finishes, Kaito gets to his feet, “Okay, now I need a nap for sure. Can you wake me up at seven?”

She nods, “Uh-huh! I’ll set a reminder so I don’t forget. I hope you have a good night at work, niisan!”

Kaito ruffles her hair, “I’ll try, kiddo. Don’t eat anything that’ll make you sick.”

He regretfully leaves her alone on the couch and heads to his room, ready to take a quick nap. He falls asleep to the familiar sounds of the pipes gurgling mixing with the  _ Dangan Ronpa _ theme song. His sister’s probably starting the second episode.

Kaito wishes that he didn’t have to leave her alone.

-

He arrives ten minutes before his shift starts. The bar has a few people, but nothing overwhelming. Kaito changes into his uniform in the back, then greets the afternoon shift as they leave. 

Tonight, he's working with a blue haired girl whose name that Kaito can never remember. He feels rude to always be asking, but he never sees her around aside from the occasional night shift with her. 

She's already mixing drinks, so he doesn't feel the need to pressure her now. Kaito leans against the side of the counter, and waits for the host to send over customers. 

The shift goes about as well as any, there's a few drunk idiots in the middle that ruin everything, but besides that, all is golden. At fifteen after midnight, Kaito and the weird blue haired girl switch off with the people on the graveyard shift. 

He's about to head into the parking lot for a quick smoke before he heads home, when the door to his boss’s office opens, and he hears his name being called.

“Oi, Momota. Can I talk with you a quick second?” 

Kaito turns with surprise - he didn’t think his boss was here this late - then enters the office. His boss is sitting at his desk, his feet resting on the mahogany.

“What is it, sir?” Kaito asks.

His boss says, “We’re still having alcohol being stolen from the bar. I was wondering if you had any ideas as to the culprit.”

Kaito blinks, “I thought we found the person who did it?”

“We were… sorely mistaken,” his boss admits, “Listen, kid. You’re just about the only one out there that I trust, so if you find out anything, come right to me.”

Kaito bows, “Of course, sir. I’ll do my best to stop the thefts.”

His boss chuckles, “Good. Now get home. You’ve got someone to look after, don’t’cha?”

“Yes sir. Goodnight sir.”

-

Kaito arrives home just before one thirty in the morning, like always. The apartment is mostly darkened, but one lamp still remains off. He sighs. She must have tried to wait up for him again.

He walks over to the sofa. His sister is curled up in a ball, fast asleep. He sighs, and scoops her up in his arms.

“Himiko…” he murmurs, “You should have gone to bed.”

Kaito carries Himiko into her bedroom and tucks her under the covers. She stirs a little bit in his arms, but doesn’t awaken. He lingers in her doorway to make sure she really is asleep, and sighs quietly. Even now that she’s healthy, she’s still so small and thin.

He coughs into his elbow. There’s a tickle in the back of his throat now, and he grimaces. A cold isn’t what he needs at all.

-

August bleeds into September. Himiko goes back to school, and Kaito begins to work more hours, not feeling as bad about being out of the house so much. 

Despite all the work he's doing, Kaito finds time for  _ Dangan Ronpa, _ but only for Himiko’s sake. He couldn't care less about the show, or the bland characters, but nothing sans it and him make her happy anymore. And it really doesn't take much for him to indulge her, as she talks about her theories for how the season will play out. Smile and nod. Smile and nod.

His cough is getting worse, but he ignores it, blaming it on the rapidly changing weather. In the last week alone, it's rained, snowed, and hailed. But despite the weather, he still does everything in his power to get home on time. All that he does is for Himiko, and what kind of brother is he if he’s never there for her?

Kaito feels especially bad when he arrives home one evening to find her sitting on the couch and crying. He drops everything in his hands and rushes over to her. Kaito pulls her into his arms, and she latches on tight, her tears soaking his shirt.

“Himi-chan…” he murmurs. He hasn’t called her that in a very long time, he realizes. Kaito rubs her back, and her breathing slowly begins to ease. He rocks her back and forth for a long time, trying to whisper soothing words to her.

Himiko croaks, “I’m scared, niisan. I’m really, really scared.”

Kaito whispers, “Why is that? You can tell me, if you’re okay with that. It’s always best to say what’s on your mind… Keeping things bottled up isn’t good.”

Himiko replies, “It was… Amami. On the show, he just… snapped.”

“Snapped?” Kaito echoes.

Himiko nods into his shoulder, “He… he killed  _ everyone. _ In increasingly worse ways… And I know that it’s just television, and that it’s stupid to be scared about it… but what if he comes for me? What if he hurts  _ me, _ somehow?”

Kaito wraps his arms around her tighter, “I’ll never let anything happen to you, Himi-chan. I promise.”

Himiko sniffles, and clutches his arm.

-

It’s dead quiet on the graveyard shift. As autumn has become winter, and winter is slowly melting into spring, less and less people feel the need to frequent this bar. 

It's just Kaito and the blue haired girl again. She's as strange as ever, and Kaito  _ still _ doesn't know her name. It's almost as if she's trying to keep it a secret. 

She sits on the counter, swinging her legs freely, while Kaito scrubs the sparkling barstools, bored out of his mind. 

“Hey,” he says, an hour into the shift, “I hate to say this, but your name keeps slipping my mind.”

She laughs, “I don't think I've even told you what it is. Don't worry though, you don't need to know it.”

Kaito blinks, “Why wouldn't I need to know it? I mean, I can't keep mentally referring to you as ‘the blue haired girl.’ I'll even go first! My name is Kaito Momota.”

She pushes up her glasses, and tucks a strand of hair behind her ear, “I knew that already. And like I said, it doesn’t really matter. I don’t even work here.”

“You… what?” Kaito says, “What the fuck do you mean that you don’t work here? If you don’t, then why are you even here? God knows I wouldn’t be if I didn’t have to be.”

“I like mixing drinks, this place is severely understaffed, and I get free booze out of it, so what’s there to lose?” she replies, glancing down at her hands.

Kaito gapes at her, then, overtaken by a fit, coughs violently into his elbow. When he catches his breath, he whispers, “I’m sorry… ‘free?’”

She continues swinging her legs, refusing to make eye contact with him all of a sudden.

It hits him like a train. Kaito splutters, “You! You’re the motherfucker who’s been stealing from us!”

“Can you prove that?” she asks, a small smile on her face, “I’m sure that you wouldn’t be believed if you tried to rat on me anyways.”

Kaito hisses, “Watch me! You’re not even  _ employed _ here!”

The smile develops into a smirk, “Exactly. How would a civilian be able to steal from here? It’s okay, you tried. We can’t all be smart.”

He shakes his fist at her, “ _ Excuse  _ me?!”

She leaps off the counter, “You heard me. Good night, Momota-kun. I’m sure that you can finish all this alone.” Leaving him with that, she saunters out the door.

Kaito stares at the spot where she was seated for a long while. It isn’t until later that he realizes that he still doesn’t know her name.

-

Even though winter is close to ending, there’s still a bitter wind chill in the air. Kaito tugs his jacket around him tighter. It’s all he can do to stay warm, with the constant coughing and lack of a scarf.

It’s still another twenty minutes home, but he can probably halve it if he goes through this dark alleyway. Kaito looks left and right a few times, then shrugs and ducks through it. He gets about halfway through it, when a hand rests on his shoulder.

“You shouldn’t be out here so late.”

Kaito goes completely stiff. Two men come out from behind him, their eyes gleaming in the darkness. His breath has caught in his throat, and his voice has stopped working.

One of the goons grins, “How about we… teach him a little lesson? Like a good teacher would.”

The other cracks his knuckles, “Sounds good to me.”

The fist makes contact with the side of his head, and all Kaito Momota can see is stars.

-

“N-Niisan!  _ Niisan!” _

Kaito’s eyes blearily flicker open. His head is screaming like an opera singer on double speed, and his muscles feel as if they’ve been paralyzed for weeks. Everything is blurry, but that might just be the tears in his eyes.

“H...imiko?” he croaks, his voice rusty and unused.

Himiko nods, tears dripping from her face onto his, “W-What happened to you, niisan? You… you…!”

Kaito groans, and tries to sit up. The side of his head stings, and he lightly touches it, only for his hand to come away with blood on it.

“You didn’t come home last night,” Himiko whispers, “I woke up alone on the couch… and then I tried calling you but you didn’t answer… so I went looking for you.”

Kaito coughs. His throat feels like the desert, and his lips are bone dry, “I got… attacked.”

Himiko grabs his hand tight, “Niisan… I’m so sorry.”

With his free hand, Kaito rummages through his pockets. His phone is gone, as is most of his spare change. His neon pink palm tree deco wallet is still in his pocket - and thank goodness, it was a present from Himiko - but it’s completely empty aside from his driver’s license. Not that it was worth stealing anyways. What’s some stranger going to do with a picture of his face?

Himiko leans onto his shoulder, “I’m scared.”

“Don’t be,” Kaito wheezes, “I shouldn’t have been stupid and come through this way. I’m really sorry, Himi-chan. This was all my fault, and mine alone.”

Himiko hugs him, “Please don’t do anything risky like that again. I don’t want to lose you.”

Kaito moves his sore arms to hug her, and pats her back, “I swear. I won’t let myself get hurt again.”

His heart has already risen to his throat.

-

Kaito tosses aside the novelty Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup pillow - god knows where he got the thing. Probably a birthday gift from Himiko - and lies down on his bed, exhausted. Even though he just spent the last several hours passed out, he craves sleep. Kaito praises the fact that he doesn’t have to work at the grocery store this morning, as he rolls over onto his side.

How does this happen?

His face feels hot with both anger and shame. He’s done everything in his power to keep money coming in so that Himiko can live a vaguely normal life. Kaito has skipped meals to keep her fed before, and he’s not afraid to do it again, but with this robbery, he doesn’t know if he’ll even have enough for Himiko to get by. All he wants is to keep her safe, she’s his precious little sister, but all he seems to be doing is scaring her.

Kaito bites down on his lip, his teeth breaking past the skin. He feels blood run between his teeth, and shuts his eyes. He doesn’t deserve to exist anymore.

-

As if the rollercoaster that is his life couldn’t take a turn for the worse, the second Kaito sets foot on the grounds of the bar, he’s called into his boss’s office.

“What are you doing here?” His boss asks sharply, “I thought the call was clear enough.”

Kaito rubs his neck, “Uh, call? I got my phone stolen, sir.”

His boss scoffs, “Likely story. You’ve been fired, Momota. Get out of my sight.”

“W-What?!” Kaito gasps.

“You were the one behind the theft of our alcohol,” his now ex-boss hisses, “You should be lucky that I don’t call the damn police force on you. That’s thousands of dollars that we’ve lost!”

Kaito freezes. Then his mind goes to the blue haired girl’s sinister smirk, and he clenches his fist.

-

Himiko looks at him strangely when he comes back through the door at a quarter past nine at night, “Huh? Niisan, what happened? You’re never back so early.”

Kaito takes a long sigh, “I… got fired. But it’s not the end of the world, I swear. I’ll take on more hours at the grocery store, and get more income.”

Himiko declares, “I’ll get a job too! I can drop out right now, and start working full time!”

“Absolutely not,” Kaito replies sternly, “You are finishing your schooling completely, young lady.”

Himiko pouts, “But we need money! Niisan, I really want to be able to help you!”

Kaito ruffles her hair, “You can help me by graduating at the top of your class, okay? You’re gonna do great thing some day, kiddo, and I won’t have you throw all those chances away so you can be like me.”

Himiko smiles weakly. Kaito feels a lurch in his throat.

-

Kaito sticks to his word and gets more work at the store. He bags groceries, he stocks shelves, he even replaces the magazines. With his hands covered in papercuts, he throws open a fifth box, and begins to stuff them onto the too thin display shelves, when he freezes.

In between a headline that reads: 'Exclusive interview with Rantarou Amami - What was the motive behind the murder spree?' and a photograph of the reality TV star himself, there's a little bubble that advertises a free  _ Dangan Ronpa _ audition form tucked inside. Kaito hesitates, looks over his shoulder to make sure that the manager isn't paying attention to him, then flips to the page and rips out the form, tucking it into his pocket.

When he gets to the bathroom, Kaito looks over the form. It seems simple enough, all he has to do is fill it out and mail it off. He can do that. If he wins the show, he’ll get enough money to keep him and Himiko safe for a lifetime. Either he survives all the way to the end, or he gets away with murder.

Kaito thinks about how easily he got jumped in the alleyway. He’s already made his decision, it seems.

-

Now that Kaito has Sundays off completely, he decides to make it a day for him and Himiko to hang out together. Unfortunately, on the first one, she explains that she already has plans.

“Sorry, niisan,” Himiko says, “I hope you don’t mind, but I really wanted to hang out with-”

Kaito smiles, “Don’t feel bad! Go spend time with your friends. You deserve it, okay?”

Himiko doesn’t meet his eyes. She doesn’t come home until late, and Kaito spends the whole day worried about her. So really, it’s no different than any other day.

-

Kaito arrives home from the grocery store one afternoon, only to be struck in the face by a plush elephant. He splutters uselessly for a moment, and looks around for his assailant, only to see Himiko near the couch, shaking.

“Himiko?” he asks, “What’s going on?”

She holds up an envelope, her hands shaking, “You… You… Why did you sign up for  _ Dangan Ronpa?!”  _

Kaito freezes in the doorway, “Oh… I guess the acceptance letter came, then. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, Himiko, but-”

Himiko slams her fists down on the couch, “Don’t try and brush it off! This is the worst thing in the world! Niisan!”

Kaito’s limbs drop, “Himi-chan?”

“Don’t ‘Himi-chan’ me!” Himiko shouts, “You’re giving up your life… we can’t  _ both _ do that!”

“WHAT?!” Kaito shouts, and rushes over, “Oh my god, don’t tell me that you-”

Himiko clenches her fists, “I went and auditioned the other day. And I got the letter today, and I was so glad… and then I saw that you got one too.”

Kaito whispers, “I just wanted to protect you…”

“You’ve spent your entire  _ life _ protecting me,” Himiko responds, “Not anymore… Now I have to be the one to protect you!”

Kaito scoops her up off the couch and pulls her into a tight hug. She cries into his shoulder, and he lets a few silent ones fall too.

-

Kaito Momota stumbles out of a locker. He’s in a strange classroom, where a white haired girl already is. The two of them form a silent pact, and work together to get out of the room. It’s when they arrive in the gym and see the others that Kaito freezes.

There’s Himiko, his sweet little sister. Kaito tries to speak, but he can’t find any words. She won’t look at him. He can’t blame her.

But of course, it only proceeds to get weirder as outfits are passed out, and Kaito is handed a coat that he can’t ever be expected to wear properly. He stares at it, but then puts it on, as if compelled to by a higher power, coughing into his arm.

His head begins to spin.

-

Kaito Momota stumbles out of a locker. He feels a strange form of excitement inside of him, one that he can’t really explain. He stands in an empty classroom for a couple minutes, unsure of what to do, when he opens the locker next to his, to see a white haired girl standing straight up with her eyes closed, locked in prayer.

He rolls his eyes. It doesn’t really matter, anyways. What matters is that he’s Kaito Momota, and hell, that he’s got to get to space. After all, hasn’t that been his life’s driving force since he was five years old?

Hasn’t it?

(He coughs violently into his sleeves.)


End file.
